The existing, more than one and a half centuries old road vehicles, heavy railway trains of passenger coaches and wagons, heavy and slow trams and the huge cost metro and mono trains are all known. Because of many advantages in rail journey, people prefer it. But unfortunately the existing railways could not accommodate more passenger coaches or wagons, as they already reached a saturation point. The main problem with Railways is the high construction cost of their rail tracks. It is around 50-70 million rupees per Kilo meter track, excluding the cost of land and rolling stock. But alas!, for the elevated Chennai Metro Rail, the average cost per k.m. is about 4000 million rupees! These costs are excluding the prohibitive cost of Rolling stock. Trams/Street Rail cars are no exception. So, all developing and poor countries could not afford to spend for such costly rail net work. Also, so far, there was no any alternative economic rail transport technology like RCRV available to the public throughout world.
Regarding freight movement also, either rail or road transportation did not at all satisfy people. There is enormous delay and theft in rail transport. In road transport, the freight charge is exorbitant as road vehicles consume more than 7 times fuel than rail vehicles. And all roadways have become nightmarish battle ground and PANDEMONIUM on our planet though GOD created it as a wonderful PARADISE. The shocking fact that the international crimes committed by the Automotive Industries is that the quantum of precious fuel unmindfully burnt in the last 100 years alone by their gas guzzling road vehicles, would have been last for another 400 years, had the global rail transport system been implemented 100 years ago. Now pessimism prevails among Economists and Environmentalists as countdown already started that the entire oil fields in the world would certainly go dry after 20 or 25 years. So, they seriously warn that the existing world-wide transport net work may collapse and the mankind has to face the aftermath doom and gloom.
When such is the present world's burning crisis, no attempts of any kind have so far been made to revolutionize the heavy, costly, slow moving and obsolete TRAMS/Street rail cars and the killer road vehicles. But to make vehicles to be user-friendly, some attempts had been made for decades by few citizens in the world to create COMBINED ROAD & RAIL VEHICLES. But unfortunately all the embodiments of their inventions had been found to be deficient in technologies and unsafe to run on rail tracks as detailed below:
Cumbersome equipments to lift and lower the axles with rubber wheels and steel wheels, then complicated construction of guides to place the vehicle on rail track from plain road, then fitting motors to rubber wheels to move along rail track, without applying mind how the motor will run the vehicle on plain roads without electricity and then other embodiments were orientated with the existing heavy railway bogies. The width of rolling stock of broad gauge is more than 3 meters whereas the width of roadways trucks and buses are about 2.5 meter only. Therefore roadways commercial vehicles may not suit for broad gauge rail track. Only standard gauge rail track will suit roadways heavy vehicles. In another dangerous embodiment, both steel wheels and rubber wheels were designed to bear and share the vehicle load equally while running fast, may lead to derailment and more consumption of fuel due to continuous friction/adhesion of rubber wheels on its road track; in another embodiment, convex steel wheels had been designed to run on concave rails and vice versa. This system will lead to derailment as the natural oscillating tendency of running trains due to wind force and deflection of rails in between sleepers will damage such wheels and rails, which cannot be prevented. In another prior art, in the same axle, along with flanged steel wheels, larger dia rubber wheels had also been fitted and at points of level crossings and other rail crossings, it was claimed, the rubber wheels automatically deflate and then inflate while running fast on rail tracks. Can anyone rely on such dangerous technologies playing with the lives of thousands of passengers?
According to one prior art, a camera will guide the vehicle. In another embodiment of a prior art, the larger dia rubber wheels rotate along with smaller dia steel wheels on the same axle. But there was no fool-proof technology applied to safeguard the vehicle while crossing at points of “NO-RAIL” level crossings and other railway crossings where the larger dia rubber wheels need sufficient space or guide to pass through. This is a very very critical issue. At level crossings, if there are no rails, the train's rubber wheels take the entire load and cross the plain road on ramp with the help of guides. Still, there will encounter another big problem i.e. the larger dia rubber wheels cover more distance than the smaller dia steel wheels as both are fitted on the same axle. So when the idly rotating lifted larger dia rubber wheels suddenly lowered and made to take the entire load and run on ramp, it will create a sudden and violent JERK to the entire train leading to imbalance, disturbing passengers. Further, this kind of frequent disturbances will damage the couplings and joints and rubber wheels may also burst. Then, while crossing the plain roads at level crossings what type of mechanical or electronic devices guide the larger dia rubber wheels on ramps, had not been disclosed in that embodiment. Then comes another problem; while the larger dia rubber wheels cross other existing rail tracks, what type of guide was designed, has also not been disclosed; then while moving from loop line to main line and vice versa the same problem encounters and there was no solution explained in those embodiments.
In the present applicant's own two patent applications No. 466/DEL/2000 dated 28 Apr. 2000 and another No. 162/MAS/2001 dated 22 Feb. 2001, the embodiments of the inventions were, while running on plain roads, in the R.C.R.V. a modified semi trailer, rubber wheels were used and while running on rail tracks of existing railways all the rubber wheels had to be removed from its axles and stored in its compartment under the chassis. In the other it was road rail truck to run on rail track laid on roadways. Though the design was simple, fitting and removal of rubber wheels was a laborious job. Therefore those two patent applications had been abandoned.
Above all, it is known to many that when brake is applied to the existing railway train while running fast, it stops only after running a long distance depending upon its total load, the moisture on rail tracks and gradients. But in combined Rail-cum-Road Vehicle train the paramount critical aspect lies in its mandatory precision emergency brakes.
But in all prior arts there was no mention about such important and effective braking system. Unlike the existing railways, the present super fast Rail-cum-Road Vehicles will run on rail tracks laid along with safety fencing on its both sides on all roadways where all sorts of other road vehicles ply and pedestrians cross tracks at points where there is no fencing. So it would be fatal if there was no precision braking system in the R.C.R.Vs. That was why the heavy TRAMS/street rail cars move very slowly because of its obsolete design and ineffective braking system throughout world.
Therefore all the related prior arts could not succeed to commercialize their patents in the absence of safety, comforts, speed, simplicity, economy and eco-friendliness.
It is known, on one side, unlike in other countries where so many private companies profitably run their own Railways, unfortunately in India the hierarchical monopoly of 150 years old railways belongs to Indian Government now after Independence. So they are not showing any interest to expand rail net work throughout India at least by encouraging any private innovations of rail-cum-road vehicles because they have the Research, Development and Standards Organization. (RDSO) for their own heavy railways investing public money of trillions of rupees on rolling stock without proper returns.
Then, on the other side, when already the entire roadways net work is heavily stampeded with the existing multi-million road vehicles, and in the absence of sufficient economic mass transport system, multi-national companies grabbed the opportunity and now fishing in troubled waters.
The major vested interests are the Automotive Manufacturers, joining hands with all loaning banks, sell vehicles, even to persons who don't need them and who cannot afford to maintain vehicles, without caring for the tens of thousands of fatal accidents and chaos caused by their killer road vehicles on all roadways throughout India and all over the world.
To sum up, the International Community is very much shocked and disgusted over the existing sluggish, dangerous and obsolete transport system, not able to cope up with the present era of advanced high speed information technology and population outburst. This acute imbalance seriously hindering industrial and agricultural growth, per capita income and socio-economic development. In the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change, all countries, in one voice, expressed their growing concern about carbon emission and global warming and also their helplessness to find out a radical innovation to control it. However, developed countries, now pointing their fingers towards the highly polluting India, China and Brazil and pressurizing them for more carbon cuts.